Continuing Revelation

“President Wilford Woodruff is a man of wisdom and experience, and we respect him, but we do not believe his personal views or utterances are revelations from God; and when ‘Thus saith the Lord,' comes from him, the saints investigate it: they do not shut their eyes and take it down like a pill.”

- Apostle Charles W. Penrose, Millennial Star, v. 54, p. 191

Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith (1876 - 1972):

“Let me call your attention to this fact which you, of course, all know that we are living in the last days, the days of trouble, days of wickedness, spoken of as days of wickedness several hundred years before the coming of Christ by Nephi, as it is recorded in the twenty-seventh chapter of Second Nephi.”

- Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1952

“I feel to say, O our Eternal Father, pour out thy Spirit more abundantly upon these thy saints, upon this remnant of scattered Israel which has gathered to thy gospel in these last days.”

- Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1970.

Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley (1910 - ):

“Q: And this belief in contemporary revelation and prophecy? As the prophet, tell us how that works. How do you receive divine revelation? What does it feel like?
A: [Gordon B. Hinckley] Let me say first that we have a great body of revelation, the vast majority of which came from the prophet Joseph Smith. We don't need much revelation. We need to pay more attention to the revelation we've already received. Now, if a problem should arise on which we don't have an answer, we pray about it, we may fast about it, and it comes. Quietly. Usually no voice of any kind, but just a perception in the mind. I liken it to Elijah's experience. When he sought the Lord, there was a great wind, and the Lord was not in the wind. And there was an earthquake, and the Lord was not in the earthquake. And a fire, and the Lord was not in the fire. But in a still, small voice. Now that's the way it works.”

“DR: But more than that, because you're leader of the Church. Do you have a special connection?
Gordon B. Hinckley: I have a special relationship in terms of the Church as an institution. Yes.
DR: And you receive...
Gordon B. Hinckley: For the entire Church
DR: You receive?
Gordon B. Hinckley: Now we don't need a lot of continuing revelation. We have a great, basic reservoir of revelation. But if a problem arises, as it does occasionally, a vexatious thing with which we have to deal, we go to the Lord in prayer. We discuss it as a First Presidency and as a Council of the Twelve Apostles. We pray about it and then comes the whisperings of a still small voice. And we know the direction we should take and we proceed accordingly.
DR: And this is a revelation?
Gordon B. Hinckley: This is a revelation.
DR: How often have you received such revelations?
Gordon B. Hinckly: Oh, I don't know. I feel satisfied that in some circumstances we've had such revelation. It's a very sacred thing that we don't like to talk about a lot. A very sacred thing.”

“Ted Capener: You certainly are not now or never have been, I'm sure, a prophet of doom, or of doomsday. Are we living in the last days?
Gordon B. Hinckley: I don't know, but we better act as if we were.
TC: Yeah.
GBH: Then we won't have anything to worry about!
TC: That's right.
GBH: If it's ready to come, we'll be ready.”

- Interview with Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley by Ted Capener, Friday, December 18, 1998, KUED Public Television Station in Salt Lake City, Utah